English lessons and practice games are intended for people aged 13 and over.
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Lesson 128 / Searching & confirming
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Find missing items, recognise mix-ups and confirm the details you need.
Match words to pictures →Play What is She/He doing? →
A randomly assigned, fixed male or female synthetic voice for each phrase or sentence · Slow playback at 0.7× preserves pitch.
She mistook a toy bird for a real one.
She mistook a toy bird for a real one.
I mistook your notebook for mine.
I mistook your notebook for mine.
The thing misidentified comes before “for”; the mistaken identity follows it. The past is “mistook”.
Cambridge Dictionary · mistake for
She tracked down the missing notebook in the art room.
She tracked down the missing notebook in the art room.
We finally tracked the old photograph down.
We finally tracked the old photograph down.
Emphasises the search before finding something. With a pronoun: “track it down”.
Cambridge Dictionary · track down
She rooted out the errors in the club’s list.
She rooted out the errors in the club’s list.
We need to root out duplicate entries.
We need to root out duplicate entries.
Emphasises a thorough search and removal of something unwanted. This context is not about digging up roots.
What do you think of the new cover?
What do you think of the new cover?
She thinks highly of her teacher.
She thinks highly of her teacher.
In this question, “think of” asks for an opinion. Other senses include remembering or having an idea; those are not practised here.
She nailed down a date for the exhibition.
She nailed down a date for the exhibition.
We need to nail the final details down.
We need to nail the final details down.
An informal expression for making something definite after discussion. No literal nails are involved.
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 87, 132, 107, 131, 90. A2–B1 is the course’s intended level.
One step forward every day
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Sentences using suggestions are counted as needing more practice. Review schedule based on each phrase's meaning.
OBSERVE · UNDERSTAND · MATCH
Drag a wire from the dot beside a phrase to the dot beside its matching picture. You can also tap a phrase, then a picture. Drag again to change a pair before checking.
Read the picture descriptions for more context. Similar expressions are accepted when they fit the particular scene.
Hạ mistakes a toy bird for a live bird, then notices its toy base.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
After searching two shelves, Hạ finds the missing green notebook in the art-room basket.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Hạ checks a list and removes duplicate entries.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Hạ asks a friend’s opinion of a new cover, and the friend responds positively.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Hạ and a friend confirm the 12th for the exhibition after considering the 12th and 19th.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Choose a phrase to begin.
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Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
I mistook that visitor for our new teacher.
I mistook that visitor for our new teacher.
The teacher is still trying to track down the missing book.
The teacher is still trying to track down the missing book.
We should nail down where it was last seen.
We should nail down where it was last seen.
Use “mistake for” when one thing is wrongly identified as another; “track down” means locate after a search. Misidentification and locating something are different results.
Try answering before revealing the suggested answer. This practice is not scored.
The answers below are models. Other answers can also work if they preserve the facts, meaning and structure requested in the task.
A visitor wrongly recognises a volunteer as the director. The actual director is searching for a missing folder.
Describe the recognition error.
She mistook the volunteer for the director.
“Mistook the volunteer for the director” places the actual person before “for” and the mistaken identity after it.
Replace “the folder” with “it”: Track down the folder.
Track it down.
“It” replaces the missing folder, so say “track it down”, with the pronoun before “down”.
Ask the team to establish the folder’s last location.
Let us nail down where the folder was last seen.
“Nail down where… was last seen” establishes its last location without claiming the folder has been found.
The usage comparisons are checked against the Cambridge Dictionary entries linked beside the compared expressions. The additional conversations and exercises are written for this course.
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